Dear friends, as some of you are aware, my kidneys are failing (severe stage 4 chronic kidney disease, close to end stage renal disease) and I may soon have to begin dialysis, while hoping for a transplant. Please keep me and this process in your thoughts and prayers.

Several people have also asked about the possibility of donating a kidney. If you are interested in the possibility of kidney donation, please check out the link below, where you will read about the donation process and also download the "Kidney Living Donor Referral Form"

It is a very weird thing to ask people to consider donating a kidney, but research shows that a kidney from a living donor lasts longer than one from a deceased donor. Waiting times for a deceased donor can also be 4-5 years, whereas a living donor greatly decreases the time it takes to receive a transplant. Finally, donors usually have very few problems with donation and can live a normal life with a single kidney.

Dear friends, as some of you are aware, my kidneys are failing (severe stage 4 chronic kidney disease, close to end stage renal disease) and I may soon have to begin dialysis, while hoping for a transplant. Please keep me and this process in your thoughts and prayers.

Several people have also asked about the possibility of donating a kidney. If you are interested in the possibility of kidney donation, please check out the link below, where you will read about the donation process and also download the "Kidney Living Donor Referral Form"

It is a very weird thing to ask people to consider donating a kidney, but research shows that a kidney from a living donor lasts longer than one from a deceased donor. Waiting times for a deceased donor can also be 4-5 years, whereas a living donor greatly decreases the time it takes to receive a transplant. Finally, donors usually have very few problems with donation and can live a normal life with a single kidney.

Yet another doctor visit tomorrow. Still no good answers to the pain in my chest and underarms. You know it is bad when it hurts to wear shirts, and I don't have the body to not wear shirts either. Shingles? It might be, but there is no rash, and the pain is still there after a week of treatment. Oh well, this seems to be my life nowadays. I have had about six weeks of feeling normal since last February when my dad died. Mom died. I was in the hospital three times. Had walking pneumonia all last summer and fall, and bronchitis in January. My current ailment started after the bronchitis ended. It is, to put it mildly, a bit depressing.

Well, Hell Week . . . I mean Holy Week is almost over. Not as bad this year as in years past. but from here on out I will declare that there will be no church meetings during Holy Week. It's bad enough without having to spend two more evenings in meetings plus the usual worship services and activities. Someone remind me of this next year.

My body is falling apart before my eyes. I am, as of my last nephrologist appointment, in stage 4 of Chronic Kidney disease. Stage 5 means either transplant or dialysis. With my eGFR at 24, and stage 5 beginning at eGFR 15, I will have to make plans soon on what to do if the current decline in kidney function continues. To say the least, I am concerned and worried.

Recovering from some severe bronchitis with antibiotics, steroids, and an inhaler. 2018 is not starting off on the right foot. Also, I have had pain in my left abdomen under my left ribcage and lower since December 20th. It is not going away. A CAT Scan showed nothing wrong organ wise. I have gone to four physical therapy sessions with no improvement (working on the back and ribs). Wish I knew what was wrong. It's always there - mostly annoying, but sometimes with very sharp pains. Gah.

“PEN America is deeply alarmed by reports that a lawyer representing President Trump is attempting to halt publication of Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” which purports to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the Trump White House. The President’s attempt to ​halt​ publication of a book because of its content is ​flagrantly unconstitutional​. ​President Trump’s threats represent a ​brazen ​attempt at imposing unlawful prior restraint, a form of censorship repeatedly rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. For the President of the United States criticism comes with the territory. The President should immediately withdraw and repudiate this outrageous demand, allowing the American people to render their own judgement of the book.​” ​ https://pen.org/press-release/president-trump-halt-book-publi...

If you are a wealthy, white, male inheritor, you are born into a position of vast ownership in which that ownership, as well as your very identity have full representation and protection under the law. You can be the most talentless, stupid, self-loathing, lazy, urine-colored muhfucka in the world, and none of that will change the situation of your birth either. http://blackgirlinmaine.com/racial-and-cultural/how-does-the-...

When the Supreme Court decided, in the 1954 case of Brown vs. Board of Education, that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Tennessee-born economist James McGill Buchanan was horrified. Over the course of the next few decades, the libertarian thinker found comfortable homes at a series of research universities and spent his time articulating a new grand vision of American society, a country in which government would be close to nonexistent, and would have no obligation to provide education—or health care, or old-age support, or food, or housing—to anyone. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/2017/06/james_mcgi...

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year. 2017 was a difficult year with both my Mom and Dad dying and my being hospitalized three times, but I am hopeful that 2018 will be much better for me, and I hope the same for you all as well. 2018 has got to be better, right? Blessings to you all.

Well, I resemble this. ::: Huge: I can’t just will myself to be less cynical. ::: Feels like that realization was a prerequisite to pulling away from grave implosion. I’m that wary of the world cynic, BUT I’m more than that, more than the brooding realist. I contain multitudes. I can make others (myself included) happy, even if in small ways, so do those small things. That’s part of me too. They coexist. That’s cool. Messy, but cool. ‎· Micah 2

How sucky is my current church? This was an email i got after the worship services on Sunday, and this is from one of the better members: Hi Pastor Will. This is a long one----
Today's contemporary service's music was dismal. We were not able to follow any of the verses ------and --------absense from the chorus was felt by me especially since they were both at the service. It was if ------- was just going through the motion.
As worship team lead, lay leader, I must say we either have to replace ------ or enhance our service with you tube videos of more upbeat and mood uplifting music. Today's music will not attract new members nor would it keep me coming back to that service.
I love ----- and his faithfulness to God but his selection of music and not following the written verses that he selected has to change. Everyone is noticeably not singing thru the songs to the end. I am most hardly trying by lifting my hands to invite God to me but feel I'm going thru the motions too at most times. And this is really sad
Can we visit this with ------ before this Sunday's new service times? We have to seriously change our approach to the music during the contemporary service. A more structured approach where everyone can follow is most needed.
Talked to ------ after the service today and really got the feeling he is more into the other church with his wife and chil. He really is not with us at this point.
I feel this is the upmost importance for success of the service

The music was not bad, imho, and the singer has a good voice and is a good guitarist. Further, I am "sure" that youtube videos would be better accepted by young adults than a live musician. What the Hell??? ‎· Will

I have lost 22 pounds, cut my insulin usage in half, and am A1C is 5.8. My doctor wants me to wean off my short acting insulin completely. My use of long-acting insulin is down from 70 units daily to between 35-40 (taken at night). I reckon a "yay me" is in order.

You know when you're at a Catholic Retreat Center and you have an itch on your back you can't reach and the only thing you have that can reach it is the crucifix on the wall . . . Yeah, I know you know what I mean. :^)